Portside

In this documentary, two South Africans set out to discover what happened to their musical hero, the mysterious 1970s rock 'n' roller, Rodriguez. You can now see the movie or get the music.

'Bluesologist' Gil Scott-Heron  asks, 'What's the word from Johannesburg? They tell me our brothers over there are defyin' the Man' in the youth uprising of 1976. 'We all need to be strugglin' if we're goin' to be free.' 

South African jazz musician Hugh Masakela tells the story of the life and labor of the immigrant coal and gold miners of South Africa, so hard that they curse the coal trains that brought them.

Nelson Mandela makes a surprise appearance in this Johnny Clegg performance of Asimbonanga after the unbanning. The lyrics are powerful protest against the imprisonment of Mandela and his comrades a sense of loss for the murdered Steve Biko and others.

Abdullah Ibrahim (formerly Dollar Brand), a founder of the African jazz movement, dedicated this composition to the 1970s youth-led uprising in Soweto, South Africa. It opens with the faint cry of a child. The accompanying images draw on both the apartheid era and the triumph over it.

Son House was a preacher before becoming a seminal figure in the development of blues. Here he creates short, vivid portraits of church-goers. Find more Alt-Xmas music here.

Leon Rosselson retells the Jesus-Judas story. What if Judas is scorned because he taught "shaking off the chains," rather than preaching submission?  Find more Alt-Xmas music here.